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Alexander Pichushkin, the notorious Russian serial killer known as the “chessboard killer,” has said he would confess to 11 more murders, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing the country’s penal service. Pichushkin, who is serving a life sentence for the deaths of 48 people, made the statement from inside a high-security prison in Russia’s Arctic region.
The 50-year-old, who targetted vulnerable individuals such as homeless people, alcoholics, and the elderly, committed the crime primarily around Moscow’s Bitsevsky Park between 1992 and 2006, the report said. According to the report, he got the moniker “chessboard killer” after he claimed during his confession that he had intended to place a coin on each square of a 64-square chessboard for every victim he murdered.
In a statement released on Saturday via Telegram, Russia’s penal service reportedly said Pichushkin had informed investigators that he was prepared to admit to additional murders, involving both men and women. The exact details of these 11 cases have not yet been disclosed.
Though Pichushkin was convicted for 48 murders, he had long been suspected of killing more people. During his trial, Pichushkin had claimed to have killed 63 individuals, though prosecutors only formally charged him with 48 murders and three attempted murders, the report said.
If Pichushkin gets convicted of the additional murders he has confessed to, he would become Russia’s second most prolific serial killer, behind Mikhail Popkov, a former policeman who was convicted of 78 murders. Pichushkin’s case remains one of the most chilling in Russia’s criminal history.
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